Search Results for: homeschool theme days

Finding the right homeschool planner

ddd Tracy

My earliest homeschool memories include my mom working over homeschool schedules in her spiral notebook. Nothing fancy. Just a cheap spiral notebook with ruled paper. That “homeschool planner” served her well for years. Over the 6 years or so that I’ve homeschooled my own kids, I’ve been all over the gamut of homeschool planning. I’ve tried online planners, planning apps, free planning pages, printable homeschool planner pdfs, dry-erase calendar board, the Ultimate Homeschool Planner, Plum Paper Planner—you name it, I’ve probably given it a try. My planning needs and preferences are constantly morphing. But the one thing I’ve learned is…

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Teaching Spelling While Homeschooling Dyslexia

ddd Tracy

Teaching my daughter to read was a challenge. We both fought hard to win that battle. But just as she was finally making strides in reading, her phonics curriculum switched from an emphasis on reading to an emphasis on spelling, and her performance plummeted while her anxieties surged. No matter what technique we tried, no matter how long we spent going over words, she couldn’t spell. Half way through her second grade year, it was clear we were dealing with dyslexia. Teaching my dyslexic daughter to read was tough; teaching spelling to my dyslexic daughter has seemed impossible on many, many…

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Loop Planning with file folders (for themes, topics, and unit Studies)

ddd Tracy

Some subjects, like math and grammar, can be pretty straightforward when planning. But other subjects that are more topic or theme oriented are a little harder to schedule with traditional lesson planning. For those subjects, I’ve found that I really like loop planning. The idea of loop planning is that you plan the order rather than the timeframe that a lesson is completed. When you finish one theme or unit study, you pull out the next one. There’s no deadline or getting behind; you finish when you are finished. For instance, I plan my Tapestry of Grace history this way.…

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5 steps to traditional lesson planning

ddd Tracy

For most people I know, lesson planning is the part of homeschooling that they despise. But I’m a nerd; I love to lesson plan and organize our year. And I have two methods for getting my ducks in a row: traditional lesson planning for subjects like spelling and grammar and loop planning for subjects that are more topic or unit study oriented. (We’ll tackle loop planning in my next post.) I actually do a lot of my planning during the summer to help relieve some of the time pressure that lesson planning can create, so my school year just about…

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5 favorite activities for Christmas Break

ddd Tracy

Christmas Break is a must for me. And while some families I know study Christmas traditions around the world and do Christmas-themed unit studies and homeschool through much of the season, I love to take the entire month off. That’s right, the WHOLE MONTH! We break as soon after Thanksgiving as we can manage (after the last math lesson is completed in our 12 week cycle) and don’t start back until after New Year’s. There is just too much fun to cram it into a traditional two week break. So, I’ve compiled a list of our top 5 favorite activities…

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